Cowboy takes a wife
by Artemis's Dreams
Summary: When single mother Kagome Higarushi discovered hat her abusive ex-husband was being released from prison, she knew she needed live-in protection at her ranch. And since hiring a bodyguard would only scare her young daughter, Kagome decided to hire a husba
1. Chapter 1

Authors Notes: This is my first Fanfiction so don't be to hard on me but tell me what you think. Flames are welcome

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the Characters.

Summary: When single mother Kagome Higarushi discovered hat her abusive ex-husband was being released from prison, she knew she needed live-in protection at her ranch. And since hiring a bodyguard would only scare her young daughter, Kagome decided to hire a husband-a big, brawny husband-who had more muscles than questions...

All cowboy Inuyasha Takahashi had to do to own a piece of Texas was say "I do" and live with a pretty woman and her cute kid. He didn't have to love his instant family, and since Inuyasha was incapable of that, anyway, he thought he'd gotten one heck of a hassle-free deal. At least until the truth came out...

Chapter One

Kagome Higarushi had been secretly observing Inuyasha Takahashi throughout the Christmas pageant. So she saw the moment when his jaw tightened, when he closed his eyes and clenched his fists as though he were in pain. A bright sheen of tears glistened along his dark lashes. Moments later he rose from the back pew in which he sat and quietly, almost surreptitiously, left the church.

For a moment Kagome wasn't sure what to do. She didn't want to leave because her daughter, Sakura, hadn't performed her part as an angel in the pageant. Sakura _was_ an angel, Kagome thought with a swell of maternal pride. But it was because of her five-year-old daughter that she needed Inuyasha Takahashi's help. Kagome had to speak privately with her cowboy, and she wasn't sure if she would get another chance like this one.

According to his grandmother, Keade Takahashi, Inuyasha had come to Wyoming from Texas looking for someplace to settle down. What if Inuyasha moved before she had a chance to make the offer to him? What if he decided to leave town tonight? Without giving herself more chance for thought, Kagome rose and headed for the nearest exit. She made a detour to grab her coat and scarf to protect her form the frigid Wyoming weather.

Kagome was alarmed when she stepped outside to discover her quarry had disappeared into the night, hidden by the steady, gentle snow fall. She frantically searched the church parking lot, running through the fluffy snow in the direction his footprints led, afraid he would get away before she could make her proposition known to him.

She cried out in alarm when a tall, intimidating figure suddenly stepped from behind a pickup. She automatically put up a hand as though to ward off a blow. There was a moment of awful tension while she waited for the first lash of pain. In another instant she realized how foolish she had been.

She had found Inuyasha Takahashi. Or rather, he had found her.

"Are you all right?"

She heard the concern in his voice, yet when he reached out to touch her she took a reflexive step backward. It took all her courage to stand her ground. She had to get a hold of herself. Her safety and Sakura's depended on what she did now.

Disconcerted by the growing scowl on Inuyasha's face, she lowered her arm and threaded her fingers tightly together. "I'm fine," she murmured.

"Why did you follow me?" he demanded in a brusque voice.

"I…" Kagome couldn't get anything more past the sudden tightness in her thoart. The cowboy looked sinister wrapped in a shearling coat with his Stetson pulled down low to keep out the bitter cold. He towered over her, and she had second thoughts about speaking her mind.

But she had no choice. It was two weeks until Christmas. She had to have a husband by the new year, and this cowboy from Texas was the most likely candidate she had found. She examined Inuyasha closely in the stream of light glowing from the church steeple.

From the looks of his scuffed boots and ragged jeans, life hadn't been to kind to him. His face was as weathered as the rest of him. He had wide-set, distrustful golden eyes and a hawkish nose. His chin jutted-with arrogance or stubbornness, she wasn't sure which. From having seen is in church, she knew his hair was a rich, wavy silver. He had full lips, but right now they were flattened in irritation. Nonetheless, he was a handsome man. More good-looking than she deserved.

"Look lady, if you've got something to say, spit it out."

Kagome responded to the harsh voice with a shiver that she chose to blame on the cold. Plainly the cowboy wasn't going to stand there much longer. It was now or never.

Kagome spoke quickly, her breath creating a cloud of white around her. "My name is Kagome Higarushi. I know from having spoken to your grandmother before the pageant this evening that you're for a place to set down some roots."

His scowl became a frown, but she hurried on without stopping. "I have a proposition to make to you."


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Notes: Sorry that my first chapter was so short I had a limited time on my computer and I will try to make my second chapter longer. Remember this is my first fanfiction so please don't be too hard but flames are welcome.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

_Summary: Kagome spoke quickly, her breath creating a cloud of white around her. "My name is Kagome Higarushi. I know from having spoken to your grandmother before the pageant this evening that you're for a place to set down some roots."_

_His scowl became a frown, but she hurried on without stopping. "I have a proposition to make to you."_

Chapter Two

She opened her mouth and then couldn't speak. What was she doing? Maybe this was only going to make things worse, not better. After all, what did she really know about Inuyasha Takahashi? The grown man standing before her was a stranger. She wondered whether he remembered the one time they had met. His eyes hadn't revealed whether he recognized her name when she had spoken it. But, maybe he had never known her name. After all, they had only spent fifteen minutes together twenty-three years ago, when she was a child of five and he was a lanky boy of ten.

It was spring, and Inuyasha Takahashi had come to Demon's Castle with his father to visit the Ridgerock Ranch, since the two properties bordered each other. She would never even have met him if her kitten hadn't gotten stuck in a tree.

She had been trying to coax Buyo down by talking by talking to him, but the kitten had been afraid to move. The ten-year-old boy had heard Kagome's pleading cries and come to investigate. She thought now of all the reactions Inuyasha could have had to the situation. He might have ignored her. Or come to see the problem but left her to solve it herself. He might have made fun of her about the kitten's plight.

Inuyasha Takahashi had done none of those things. He had patted her awkwardly on the shoulder and promised to get Buyo down from the tree. He had clomed up into the willow and reached for the kitten. But Buyo had evaded his reach. He had finally lurched for the kitten and caught him, but the cat and boy had come tumbling down in a heap on the ground.

Kagome had screamed in fright and hurried over to make sure Buyo was all right. She found the kitten carefully cushioned in the boy's arms. He handed her Buyo to her with a grim smile.

"Here's your cat."

She was too busy fussing over Buyo to notice Inuyasha's attempts to rise. It was his gasp of pain that caused her to look at him again. That was when she saw the bloody bone sticking out through his jeans above the knee.

Her second panicked scream brought their fathers on the run. Her father picked her up and hugged her tight, grateful she was all right. She babbled the problem out to him, her voice was too hysterical at first for him to realize what had happened.

Inuyasha's father bent down on one knee to his son. His lips had tightened ominously before he said, "Your mother will give me hell for this."

Inuyasha hadn't made a sound when his father picked him up and carried him toward their pickup. His face had been white, his teeth clamped on his lips to stop any sound from escaping. Kagome had to follow him but her father held her back.

"Let the boy be, Kagome," he'd said. "He won't want to cry in front of you."

"But Daddy, I have to see how he is," she protested. "He saved Buyo." Her father relented, and she ran after Inuyasha and his father.

"I'm sorry," Kagome called up to Inuyasha, her tiny legs rushing to keep pace.

"You ought to be," Inuyasha's father said.

Stunned at the meanness in his voice, Kagome stopped in her tracks. But Inuyasha turned to face her over his fathers shoulder. He nodded and tried to smile, and she knew he had forgiven her.

But she and Inuyasha had never crossed paths again. When she asked about him several days later, her father had told her that Inuyasha had been visiting Wyoming for only a few days. His parents were divorced and Inuyasha lived in Texas with his mother. He wouldn't be coming back.

Kagome had never seen Inuyasha again, until he showed up at the Christmas pageant in Casper tonight. Was she willing to gamble her future on a man she had barely known for fifteen minutes twenty-three years ago? It seemed idiotic in the extreme.

Inuyasha was already turning to walk away, when she laid a slender hand on his arm. She tensed when she felt the steely muscle tighten even through the sheepskin coat.

"I need a husband," she said in a breathless voice.

Inuyasha's head snapped back around. His golden eyes focused intently on her face.

"I'm willing to sign over half the Ridgerock Ranch to you if you'll agree to marry me. Of coarse," she added hastily, "it would be a marriage in name only."

His eyes narrowed, and she found herself racing to get everything out before she lost her nerve. "The Ridgerock is the second largest outfit in the area, nearly as big as Demon's Castle, your father's place. It's got good water and lots of grass. The house was built by my great-great-grandfather. You'd be getting a good bargain. What do you say?"

Kagome gripped his are tighter, as though she could hold him there until he responded in the way she wished him to answer. She chanced a look into his eyes and was surprised by the humor she saw there. His lips twisted in a mocking smile.

"Surely you could get a husband in a little more conventional way, Miss Higurashi," he replied.

This wasn't a laughing matter. The sooner Inuyasha Takahashi realized that, the better. Kagome reached up and pulled aside the heavy wool scarf that was wrapped around her face.

"You're mistaken, Mr. Takahashi." She angled her face so he could see the vivid scar that slanted across her right cheek from chin to temple. "No man would willingly choose me for a bride."

She raised wary blue eyes to the man before her and shuddered at the cold, hard look on his face. Her shoulders slumped. She should have known better. She should have known even the promise of Ridgerock wasn't enough to entice a man to face her over the breakfast table for the rest of his life.

Kagome hurriedly wrapped the scarf back around her face to hide the scar. "This was a stupid idea," she muttered. "Forget I mentioned it."

Kagome quickly stumbled away, embarrassed by the stinging tears that had sprung to her eyes. It would have been humiliating enough to have him refuse her offer. She didn't want him to see how devastated she was by his reaction to the scar on her face. It had been so long since she had exposed herself to someone for the first time that she had forgotten the inevitable horror it caused.

She would have to find another was to save herself. But merciful Lord in heaven, what was she going to do?


End file.
